Dr Livingstone, I presume – room 2
The BELvue museum is built originally in the late 1800’s as the ‘hotel de belle-vue’ (hotel with a ‘good view’ – to the Royal park! ). Being right next to Belgium’s royal palace in Brussels, the building still has indeed a good view…
After having served as hotel and after 1905 as royal quarters, it has also housed refugees from the Congo. Since 1977 it is a museum showing off in 9 rooms the history of Belgium and it’s royal dynasty through a rich collection of documents and artifacts. Recently the building has been refurbished : the inner court is now a successful and cozy bistro and bookshop filled with sunshine and daylight.
Dr Livingstone, I presume?
This is a rather small but interesting exhibition telling the story of the search by Henry Morton Stanley for Dr David Livingstone in Africa The young journalist Stanley was sent by Gordon Bennet of the New York Herald to look for the explorer, Scottish doctor and missionary in the 1870’s. The men really met on 10 November 1871, the day that Stanley apparently spoke the famous phrase and title of the exhibition.
Stanley’s writings, binoculars and gun
The 3 rooms show ethnographic objects, mainly statues from Tanzania, and personal objects that Stanley carried with him on his travels. Seeing the binoculars, the sextant, his revolver, the blue red cloth and the colourful beads (used as currency) of the adventurer and journalist, was really fascinating.
But what really thrilled me – and what I actually came to the exhibition for- were the diaries and letters by Stanley about his travels. Little administrative notes, a drawing of the landscape or the river, letters to his employer or to Livingstone, day to day descriptions of what he encountered or what kept him busy.
Mission accomplished?
Looking for THE famous words in his diary, I was a bit disappointed though: no readable typed transcription of the letters or diaries that are so historically important – but oh so difficult to read – to be found… No indication on where to find this ‘Dr Livingstone, I presume?’ phrase?
Yet, after a while I managed to deciphere a few sentences about the “white man” in Stanley’s diary which is in the showcase opened on page ‘Thursday 10 November 1871’.
On the interactive kiosk displaying
Stanley’s diary page on 10 Nov 1871 – ‘meeting the white man’?
Stanley’s and Livingstone’s travels, I learned however that the historically important pages between 10 and 13 November of 1871 are missing in the diary… Too bad!
Interesting to know is that lots of the objects, photos and documents on display come from the collections of the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren (RMCA). The RMCA keeps in trust and preserves Stanley’s archives (the diaries are part of these archives) which were bought by the King Baudouin Foundation in 2001 and originally sold by Stanley’s heirs in the 1980’s.
It’s a go
This is a small but quite interesting little exhibit and because of its historical value definitely worth a visit. After all, you don’t get to see Stanley’s personal writings every day… nor the block of wood of the tree Livingstone’s heart was buried under when he died in May 1873, only 18 months after meeting Stanley.
By the way, this exhibition is completely free of charge. So no excuse to take your picture of the royal palace, hop in at the Belvue museum, learn about Stanley meeting Livingstone, have your Belgian coffee (or waffle) and grab a funny post card or two in the bookshop.
If you want to visit the rest of the museum you pay an entry fee…
More info
http://www.belvue.be
The exhibition on Dr Livingstone runs from 6 June to 11 November 2013
The interactive kiosk is accessible online: http://www.livingstone.patrimoine-frb.be/
Time of my visit: September 2013
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